Tossing Up: Opening Spin
by nIGHTSrAVEN47
Summary: For Mark Jenisen, Drumline was his whole life. But when he moves to a new school and tries to sign up for the marching band, he accidentally signs up for the Color Guard instead. And being the only boy to ever join, well...Hilarity ensues.
1. The Start of the Whole Mess

**Note:** I need to get this out of the way before I start, because there are a lot of pompous people against this idea: Color Guard is a pretty big part of marching band, we are not cheerleaders, and yes, sometimes Guard can be harder than actually playing an instrument-Last I checked, the band members are not throwing anything in the air, trying to avoid hitting people with six foot metal poles, and getting hit on the head with said six foot poles.

Just needed to get that out of the way. Little pet peeve of mine, being a member of the Guard. Enjoy the Part One of the story!

---Part One: Opening Spin---

Chapter One: Welcome to Thompson, A.K.A The Start of the Whole Mess

It will probably never fully register how this year's events progressed. Every time I've ever tried to explain to another person how I got myself on the Color Guard of Thompson High School, I usually get tongue-tied, can't figure out how to start, and eventually just give up, leaving the other party completely confused. But, I guess I'll try to explain now. Starting at the beginning...Ok, this is where I usually get frustrated. Beginning is a relative term, I guess, but here's when I believe _my_ beginning was:

Third grade. Yup, very far back for a beginning, seeing as the story I'm about to tell takes place in my Junior year in high school.

Well, it did start in the third grade. My parents had dragged me to my brother's very first football game, thinking it would be a great family experience. I think it was more to boost up my brother's sixteen year old pride. Well, I was getting bored out of my mind, since I wasn't a very into sports at the time-I still am not, or at least contact sports like football-and my brother had no talent in football. I was just about to start the usual protesting whine to get my parents to take me home, when the game hit half time, and it started.

It was the first time in my life I had ever seen a marching band, and I was instantly drawn in-especially by the drumline. In my mind, they were all just so powerful and controlled, like the backbone of the whole band. I was mesmerized, and then hooked.

A short while later, I had begged my parents for drum lessons. I stuck through this all through elementary school, and halfway through middle school, before I started working more with a snare drum, and by the time middle school had ended, I was already signed up for the Lawrenson High School's marching band, easily making it into the drumline.

Being in the drumline was the best time of my life. I barely seemed to have a life outside of marching band, always practicing the routines when I had free time, practicing any drum work with my pencils during school, my circle of friends not really extending outside of my drumline friends. The two years I spent with that drumline and marching band were the best, but of course, all good things come to an end.

The summer before my Junior year, my dad made the shocking announcement that started the chain of events that this story is about: His boss was making him move to work for another branch of the company, which meant that we were all moving from our home in New York City all the way to a town in Pennsylvania that I had never even heard of before. I was actually considering living on the street with my drum and living as a street performer, I was so against moving away. But, despite this, by the middle of July, our things were packed, our house was empty, and I was shoved into the back of our car with my drum sitting next to me, playing all the way to our new home.

I spent the rest of the month sulking as my parents worked on settling themselves in-my brother was still in college at the time, so it was just me and them. I probably would have kept sulking, slowly turning into one of those emo kids who died their hair black and wore eyeliner, when my mom finally gave me the news that gave me slight hope for my life here:

She had just gone to enroll me in Thompson High School, when she saw on the bulletin board outside the office that there was still room for more members on the marching band. Including drumline. Things started to look up immediately. It was about a week later when I made my way to the school itself to sign up when the trouble started.

"May I help you?" The woman sitting in the office asked as I walked in, smiling pleasantly. I don't think in the whole time I was in that school I saw that woman anywhere but that desk.

"Yeah, I heard that there was still time to sign up for the marching band," I said, shoving my hands into my pockets, attempting to look slightly cool.

"Oh, yes, I believe they're having a meeting today, actually. It's in the music wing."

"Thanks," I said, starting to walk out when I realized something, and turned back around. "Uh...where's the music wing?"

She gave me a curious look, then just smiled again. "Go down the hall across from this office, and take the hallway down to your left. Go through the double doors and that's where you'll probably find the rest of the band."

"Alright, thanks." I swiftly turned around, already feeling like a complete moron. The way she had looked at me, she must have thought I was an alien or something to ask such a simple question. I sighed, running a hand through my messy brown hair, following her directions until I could hear music from the double doors down the left hallway, most of all, the drumline. I immediately felt better. Before I knew it, I was standing in the doorway, looking at the band in front of me.

It wasn't as big as I was used to, maybe sixty, seventy people, tops. But they played pretty well. The drumline was almost better that my old one, in comparison to its size. I was already starting to feel confident.

"Can I help you?" I turned as I heard the voice, facing what looked to be the band director, a middle-aged man with a goatee and wise-looking brown eyes, who was looking at me questioningly.

"Uh, yeah, I heard there was still room for more members," I said, as everyone slowly stopped playing, looking over at me. Most of the kids in the band weren't the steryotypical "band geeks", but mostly, what I could only guess and later found to be true, kids who looked like they belonged in the inn-crowd of the school. There were cute girls in the flutes section, cool looking guys in the low brass section and, of course, in the drumline. I was pretty impressed at what kind of people the marching band in this school attracted.

"Uh, yeah! Wish you would have signed up a little earlier, but we always have room," The band director said, walking over.

"I'm kind of new. My family just moved here about a week ago," I said, shrugging a little.

"I see. Well, my name is Mr. Trenson, I'm one of the band directors," He said, firmly shaking my hand.

"Mark Jenisen," I said.

"So, Mark, what exactly do you play?" He asked, and I all but pounced on the question.

"I-" But I was then interupted by a series of loud clatters behind me, along with a surpressed curse, actually hearing the words "Enter string of curses here" muttered, when I turned around, and saw _her_. The one who started this whole mess.

The 'her' in question was a girl who, at the moment, was crouched on the ground, trying to pick up about a little less than a dozen long metal poles with different colored flags on them. She was kind of small, though at my height-I'm a few centimeters short of six foot-most girls are small, but just watching her wrestle with all those poles made her seem even smaller.

"You ok?" I asked, crouching down to help her. Once I did, I caught sight of her face, and froze for a brief moment, but recovered shortly. It wasn't that she was completely gorgeous or anything, but she was pretty cute. Her dark hair was held in two low pony tails that were tied near the middle of her neck, framing her oval face. Her eyes were hazelish greenish brown, and seemed to be able to protray whatever emotion she was feeling. Her skin was dark, but it didn't seem like it was that way normally, just that she spent a lot of time outside, since her cheeks were a bit burnt, but only a little. What surprised me when I saw her was the scowl on her face that she made when I tried to help her.

"Fine, I'm fine. I've got it." She gathered up the poles, wobbling a little as she stood up, before another girl entered the back door, looking at the girl with the poles.

"Anali, you coming? Sure you don't need any help?"

"Yeah, I'm good," The girl-Anali-said, walking over to the other girl, who held the door open, waiting for her to make it over to the door, which she seemed to be having trouble with, when it hit me what they were.

"...Color Guard..." I said softly. I had never really noticed the Color Guard in my other band. They were just the girls walking around the field with flags, making the show look flashier. Mr. Trenson asked me a question I didn't quite register at the time, so I just nodded, when the girl with the poles stopped, turning back to look at me, as the other girl at the door gaped, before leaving her post at the door to run outside.

"Oh...well, I see. This should be a first..." Mr Tenson said a bit awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head when I regained my senses again.

"Huh?"

"Are you serious? Oh, lord almighty, this is like my dream come true!" The girl with poles said with a laugh, while I just stood there confused.

"Anali, please..."

"What? Come on, this is awesome! The first _guy_ on the Color Guard squad! This is like history!"

My eyes widened as I just stared at the girl, too shocked to say anything, before it hit me like a bus:

I had told the band director I was on the Color Guard. And apparently, I was the first boy to ever do so.

I'm so screwed.

Alright, that's the first chapter! Hope you enjoyed! R&R please.


	2. The Result

**Note:** Thank you to Pengin-Alchemist for your review, I greatly appreciate it. As for anyone else who has stumbled upon my story and happened to read it, I would be ever so pleased if you could leave a reply, just so I can at least have some feed back on my work. Even if it's to just say that my work sucks and I should discontinue writing because I'm so awful, I'd like to hear it. And now that I'm done with my psuedo-ranting, I'll get on to the actual story. ("Get on with it!")

**Another Note:** Just for the sake of information, so you are not confused, the story at the moment is set at about the end of July, beginning of August, and Band camp starts the second week of August, from the seventh to the eleventh. (Being the dork that I am, I'm following my own school's band camp schedule, to save myself any complecations on how the schedule works later. Also, it works out wince this story is comprised of events from my own band and my own strange imagination. Go figure. :P )

Chapter Two: The Result A.K.A. Laughing Stock

There are moments. Every person who has one can agree with me when I say this. In life, there are many moments...

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! You dork! You stupid idiot, this is priceless! Friggin' priceless! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!"

...When you want to kill your older sibling in slowest, most painful way possible.

I was having one of these moments.

"Can you please just shut up..." I grumbled, clenching my drumsticks even tighter while my asshole of a brother, Leo, just kept laughing his head off. I swear to god, I was just sitting there, hoping that it was true that you could laugh yourself to death, and that his death came soon. Either that, or that he ran out of air soon, because his laughing was pissing me off even more.

"My brother...ha ha ha!...My drum-obsessed younger...ha ha!...brother...ha ha ha ha!...is going to be a marching band cheerleader!" This apparently made it even funnier, because his laughs started to come out even harder, making her bend over holding his stomach, bending over so far I thought her was going to tumble out of the chair and land on his head on the linoleoum(sp?) floor of our kitchen. I was close to pushing him.

"God, what am I going to do..." I groaned, putting my drumsticks on the back of my head and pulling on them, a hand on each end, which kept my head bent forward. "How am I going to explain this to the band director? How do you explain accidentally joining the color guard?"

But my brother wasn't listening. He was still laughing his twenty-four-year-old head off, leaning back in his chair with his head thrown back, so that the laughs were echoing throughout the whole house.

At this point, though, I couldn't blame him. Sure, his laughing pissed me off, but if it had happened to him-or, to anyone else for that matter-I'd be doing the same thing. This situations would pretty much be the equivelant of a pro football player joining the cheerleading squad. Actually, screw the "pretty much". It's the same situation with different sports.

And I had done nothing to help my situation. In fact, I didn't even do anything to make it worse either. No, instead, I just...

Ran away.

Yup. I didn't say anything to clear my name. Didn't do anything to clear up the mistake. I didn't even make the situation worse by saying something to dig my hole deeper. I just turned around and walked out of the room, then ran down the hall and drove away as fast as I possibly could. It wasn't until I spotted a police car did I remember the speed limit. Good job, pat myself on the back.

All that running away stuff is pretty much a blur to me now. I know what I did, but I can't remember actually doing it. The whole stretch of time between me accidentally agreeing to be a cheerleader-well, that is what color guard girls are, aren't they?-and then seeing the police car after speeding away was a great big blur. It's kind of like when you wake up in the middle of the night to get something to eat, then just go back and fall asleep; You know what you did, but can't actually remember the details.

Actually, I'm still hoping that this is a bad dream. I know it's a steryotypic response and all, but it would make my life just so much easier, and I could just have a good laugh at it and go on with life as it should be, joining the marching band as I should, in the drumline. But it's been two days and I still haven't woken up, so hope for that is starting to diminish.

"But, no, seriously, I need to know...how exactly did this happen?" My brother had actually composed himself to stop laughing and actually ask a question, which broke me out of my own reverie. "I mean, you're obsessed with that stupid drum. I'm surprised you didn't just bring it with you so you could walk in and show off to everyone before you even signed up. What, were you stoned or something?"

I sighed, letting go of my drumsticks with one hand, letting them drop to my lap as I ran my free hand through my hair. "I dunno. I was just about to tell the band director to sign me up for the drumline, when this girl walked in with all these poles-"

"Wait, wait, WAIT!" Leo suddenly interupted, holding his hands up, making me freeze in place for a moment. "I swear to god, if you tell me that you signed up to be a cheerleader for a _skirt_-"

"Hell no!" I exclaimed, slamming my drumsticks on the kitchen table as I stood up, before composing myself with a breath, sitting down again. "Come on! You _know_ I'd never give up my drum for some girl. And I would _never_ sacrifice my pride and join color guard for one! Jeez, I'm not you..." I muttered, rolling my eyes a bit.

My brother was a certified playboy. It makes me sick to think of, even to this day. He has been known to go to extreme lengths to get a pretty girl, which was actually the reason he started playing football in the first place; He apparently thought it was a great way to impress girls. When he was in high school, I don't believe I ever saw the same girl come home with him for longer than a month. And the girls he went out with...jeez, I think he went out with at least one girl from every clique in the school, from every grade. It doesn't help that his looks are great, either. He's tall, about six-foot-four, with a good crop of light brown hair, and dark green eyes that seem to be made for having girls fall in love with them. While I'm not bad looking, next to him, I just look even more childish, with my messy dark brown hair, plain green eyes, and a slightly crooked smile. It's not like I'm girl-crazy like him or anything, but it is a bit irritating when you're constantly approached by girls who would never give you a second glance otherwise who just want to get information on your brother. It didn't happen often, since he was in college by the time I got to high school, but it's still a bit annoying when senior girls start trying to be friends with you so they can see him when he comes home on weekends.

"Ok, fine, maybe it wasn't _for_ the girl. But then how does she come into the picture exactly?" Leo asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, I was about to tell the teacher that I wanted to join the drumline, when this girl dropped all these metal poles on the ground behind me. I got kind of distracted by it and before I realized it, I had signed up for the color guard," I explained, realizing how ridiculous it sounded, even to myself. Apparently moreso for my brother, because it just brought along another round of booming laughs.

It was then that the doorbell wrang. It was a bit of a surprise since we were still pretty new to the area and we weren't expecting anyone.

"Who the hell could that be...hey, cheerleader, you answer it!" Leo said, chuckling to himself at his own little personal joke. I glared at him, but got up anyways, walking to the door. By the time I got to the door, the bell wrang again. Whoever it was, they certainly were impatient.

"Calm down, already, I'm coming..." I muttered a bit sourly as I unlocked the door and opened it. "Yes, can I help-" But I stopped speaking the moment I saw who it was.

Her hair was different, and she wasn't scowling or holding any poles, but it was her-the girl who had distracted me enough to join the color guard. Anna something or another. Her hair was tied back this time into a ponytail, exposing her whole face, which was stuck in a surprised expression. I had been right in guessing that she was pretty small, because even though she seemed to be about my age, she couldn't have been more that five foot, possibly five foot one. She was dressed in knee-lengthed baggy jean shorts and a black tank top with a tan skull and cross-bones on it, surrounded by a white circle, along with black flip-flops with blue crossing straps.

There was a paused moment of silence between us both, both of us probably too surprised to speak. Just as I was about to break the silence, a weird, muffled sound came from her, like she was trying to keep from laughing, which took me aback a little.

"Well well..." She said, biting her lip a little to keep from laughing as a slow, sly smile spread across her lips. "If it isn't the color guard boy...I wasn't expecting to see you for another two weeks, at least, but look at my luck!" It was then that she let out a low chuckle, shaking her head a little. Great. More people laughing in my face. It kind of made me afraid to actually go to band camp, because then I'd have to face all those other people who were bound to laugh at me. Hey, that would be my reaction if I wasn't the one in this certain situation. Sneering, teasing, laughing...Call me cruel, but that's just how it is. And just what I'm expecting.

"Can I help you with something?" I ground out, trying to keep from telling her to just shut up and buzz off.

"Eh?" She said, her chuckling stopped, a thoughtful look appearing on her face. "Oh yeah, I came here for a reason, didn't I...What was it again..."

All I could do was stare at her. What kind of girl was she?

It was then she seemed to remember that she was holding something, and looked down at it. It was a paper plate with what looked to be brownies on it, wrapped in plastic wrap. "Oh yeah...I was bringing these over, wasn't I?" She then laughed, rubbing the back of her neck.

_'What in the world...?'_ I thought to myself as I just kept staring at her, when I then felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Now, Mark, don't you know that it's rude to stare?" Leo said smugly as I looked up at him sharply. "You'll frighten the poor girl away."

"Leo, shut-!"

"It's alright," She said, shrugging, smiling a little. "I was just going to drop these off and go home."

"Sorry for Mark's rudeness. He's such a dunce when it comes to talking to girls, I have no idea who he gets it from," Leo said, turning his charm on like a light switch. My urge to strangle him just kept getting stronger and stronger.

"It's no problem," She said, shoving the plate into my hands before starting to turn around, waving a little as she did. "Well, it was nice to meet you. Oh yeah, and before I forget..." She then reached into her back pocket, pulling out a folded up packet of white paper, tossing it to me. "That's practice and band camp schedules. Copy it and then give it back. I live right across the street." She then half smiled, chuckling a little before turning around, walking down the steps and across the front yard. "See you there..."

I was still kind of frozen as she kept walking, and was only snapped out when Leo closed the door in my face, making me stumble back. "Hey!"

"Don't tell me that's the skirt that made you woozy enough to sign up for color guard? Jeez..." He let out a mock sigh as he turned around, walking away before I could even say anything in response, leaving me standing in the front hall with a plate of brownies in one hand and a folded up schedule in another.

Well, that's the second chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it, so now, R&R!

This was dreadfully painful for me to write TT


	3. Anali

**Note:** I just want to thank everyone for replying, it means a ton to me. I spread my love to everyone who ever left a post for me. You all make me feel like a better writer! Alright, past my gushing and onto the story.

**Another Note:** Sadly, the interactions between Anali and her brother, Sam, are pretty much exactly the same as ones between me and my brother. Actually, most of the cursing and stuff between them is quoted from things we say to each other on a regular basis. Aren't we sweet?

Chapter Three: Anali A.K.A. The Spaziest of the Spazs

There are times when logic should be all too important. When you need to think things through, go over your options, think about what can be done to prevent a bad situation.

I actually had one of these moments, and it almost saved this whole problem.

It was about four days after the accident, about two after I found out Anali lived across the street and found out that people are probably laughing at me around the world-really wouldn't surprise me at this point. So, I was sitting in my room, beating at my drum pretty harshly, pushing out every routine I had every learned back at my old school, in my life, when it occured to me that I had been a freaking moron up till now, not considering what I should have done. Seriously, this was the dumbest notion that had ever escaped my mind.

So, to put the notion into motion, I jumped up, grabbing my car keys and dashing down the stairs, not even considering that maybe no one was at the school at the moment. I was just about halfway to the car, when I heard it; Loud music coming from behind the house across the street, Anali's house. I was about to ignore it, when I heard a yell and a loud curse, and before I knew it, I was running across the street, across her front yard to her backyard, where I saw a pretty funny site:

"Nikki, you stupid little beast, just be quiet! God, Sam, why did you let them out while I'm trying not to kill myself!" Anali was yelling, a flag laying crumpled on the ground next to her, a tiny little dog yipping around her heels as another dog sat quietly in the shade of the house, watching the scene in front of it, while a boy made faces at Anali from the window. "Hey, come out here and say that to my face, brat!" Anali yelled at the boy, flipping him off as he opened the window.

"Bitch!" He yelled out, surprising me at how she just smirked as he flipped her off back.

"Whore!" She yelled back.

"Bitch whore!"

"Brat!"

"Bitch brat!"

"Come up with something unique, why don't you!"

"Why don't you, you bitch!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Anali said, waving him off as he closed the window, turning around. Only, apparently she hadn't noticed me, because when she saw me, she shrieked, jumping back, freaking out the tiny dog yipping at her heels, who yelped in surprise, then also noticed me, along with the other dog, who both came running at me, sniffing and jumping.

"Whoa!" I said, stepping back as the dogs bombarded me, licking at me wherever they could, barking and yipping and making a big fuss. It was actually kind of fun. My parents wouldn't even think of getting a dog, thinking two sons was enough to take care of, I guess. I did like dogs though, they were just like little siblings only with more fur and don't talk as much.

"Daphne! Nikki! Get down! I'm sorry, new people make them excited..." Anali said, pushing the dogs off.

"Hey, don't worry, it's cool..." I said, crouching down to rub the bigger one-Daphne-on the head, as the other one-Nikki-jumped against my arm in an almost jealous way. "This one's kind of an attention hog, isn't she?" I noted, patting Nikki on the head as well.

"Yeah, she's a little monster, isn't she?" Anali said, making me chuckle, while she gathered the little one in her arms, standing up, giving me a look. "Did you need something?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I heard you yell, I thought something bad might have happened..." I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that..." She said as she walked over to the boombox on the steps leading to a back door, turning it off. "I was practicing and Nikki kept scrabbling over, and I tried to throw a double and the flag decided that my head appeared to be a good landing spot."

"Ouch. You ok?"

"Yup; It'll take more than a concussion to put me out of comission," She said, half smiling.

'"I...uh...see..." I said, probably rubbing my neck raw. "You seem pretty tough."

"Yet I cry often," She said, but in a way that seemed both joking and truthful. I actually found out that it was quite truthful much later, mostly because she would cry often, and pathetically, I was the cause.

"So, you're practicing the...uhm..." I stuttered, motioning to the flag which she picked up.

"Yup. Figured I should try to get a little practice in before the actual work starts. Surprised you didn't take one home." She paused, then, before I could say anything, she asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Uh, sure. Shoot."

"Are you gay?"

I could have fallen over from the shock and pain. "What!"

"Well, my coach told me that most guys she knew when she was in color guard were gay, so I just figured..."

Oh. God. Everyone thought I was gay now because of this. And I was planning on going to the school and confronting someone to try and clear my name and become a drumline member. I was probably being declared as a gay. Not good. "No! I'm not...not...I'm just..."

"Well, are you horny then or something?"

"What!" Wow, this chick was blunt. Seriously, just started stating the most obvious and almost painful things. "No, why!"

"Well, I'm just figuring, guy like you, either you joined to meet girls, or you're gay," She said, shrugging a little as she placed her flag against the house, rubbing Daphne on the head as the dog rubbed against her leg.

"Well, I'm not! I didn't even mean to-!" But I stopped myself when I realized I was about to blurt it out. She slowly turned to look at me, arching a brow a little.

"Didn't mean to...what?" She asked, almost cautiously.

I paused for a moment, then let out a minute, running a hand through my hair. "I...I didn't mean to sign up for color guard. I've never done it in my life."

"Then why did you do it? I can understand a girl trying it, but for a guy..."

"I was going to sign up for...something else..."

She paused for a moment, a strange look coming over her face, as a small grin seemed to be suppressing itself. "What did you come to sign up for, exactly?"

This was it. The moment of truth. "Well...drumline, actually. I play snare drum."

There was a moment of silence. She just stared at me, then...

"Pfft." A surpressed laugh had spurted out a little from her, as she covered her mouth, her face turning red. "Is...is that so?"

"Yeah, it is..." I sighed, then looked up at her. "Hey, you ok? Your face is red."

"Yeah, fine...pfft..." She kept her hand over her mouth, looking like she was going to explode or something. "So...you went to sign up for drumline...and signed up for color guard instead?"

"Well, yeah-" But I was cut off, because whatever was contained inside her, was now bursting out in gales of laughter. She was laughing so hard, she was actually bending over, laughter spilling out of her like water from a broken dam. God, I wanted the earth to open and swallow me there. "God, shut up..." I muttered, feeling myself turn red.

"Sorry, but..." She swallowed air, it seemed, painfully, trying to force her words out. "It's just so...so..."

"Yeah, I know, it's stupid..." I muttered, rolling my eyes as she tried to stop laughing. "Anyways, I'm gonna try and get in touch with the band director and fix this mess."

That seemed to shut her up. She stopped laughing and looked up at me incredulously. "Wait, what?" She straightened up, looking at him. "Seriously? Are you that stupid?"

"What? That'll fix this mess, won't it."

"It'll stop you from being in the guard, but it won't fix the mess. It'll make it worse. People will think you're mentally challenged or something. You won't get any respect from the other drummers because of this. They'll probably taunt you and call you gay or freak or something like that. You saw my reaction? I'm a girl. I'm a tame kitty compared to those cougars."

Damnit. I hated to admit it, but she had a point. I ran my hands through my hair, groaning. "Damnit, what am I going to do?" I muttered, ducking my head.

There was a brief silence, when Anali sighed, walking over. "Y'know, it's not the end of the world. Actually, it could be good for you. Your reputation and all. The guard isn't completely made up of geeks like me. There are some pretty cool girls there. You become friends with them, you're in with some of the higher circles of the school. You stick with it for a year, then next year, sign up for drums. I can probably bet you you'll get more respect that way."

I looked up at her as she gave me a comforting smile, her hands in her pockets, the sun glinting off of her dark hair. I think it was the first of many times I saw her in a light as something other than just a plain weirdo. It was odd, but comforting. I sighed, then looked back to her. "You sure?"

She half smiled, then nodded.

"Absatively posalutely."

Alright, that's chapter three! Hope you enjoyed, now, R&R! The almighty penguins command you! penguins start their commanding


	4. Two by Two

**Note:** Ah yes, I once again thank my faithful readers for commenting. You are my driving force, which actually keeps me writing instead of ditching this story, like I sadly have so many others-really, if you saw all the documents I have saved on my computer, you'd drop over from shock, I kid you not. Well, I'll stop kissing every butt who's posted here and actually write now.

**Another Note:** Just so you know, I'm not really sure what the title-besides the A.K.A.-part really represents, so don't ask.

Chapter Four: Two by Two A.K.A. The Dinner Before Facing Destiny

Ok, so, like any other kid my age, I have a bit of a strain between me and my parents. What else is new? I mean, what normal teenage boy doesn't have moments where he just wants to find things to argue about? Well, I have a lot of these, for a few different reasons.

Reason number one: My mom hates loud noises. Ok, that pretty much just explained itself, but for the sake of storyline, I'll explain: You see, my mom gets migrains as easily as some people get colds. And when I play my drums...well, let's just say if I was in the basement, and she was in the attic, and I started playing, she'd be screaming for me to quiet down the moment my drumstick hit, clutching her head and searching for the Tylenol.

Reason number two: My dad's a sports fiend. He apparents doesn't have enough reasons to bug me about joining band instead of lacrosse or football or soccer or something. Whatever. My life, and I choose a drum over a ball.

Reason three: This is the biggest one so far: The car. Truthfully, the car I drive isn't really mine, per say. My family has two cars, an SUV, which my parents usually use, and then the Nissan, that _I_ usually drive. I love that car to death, and would never leave damage it if my life depended on it, yet my parents refuse to give me complete ownership of it, and even insist on keeping the keys and having me ask for them when I need to go somewhere.

Well, these are just the normal argument starters, but tonight, it was going to be something completely different, and in the end, I was doomed to be the loser of the argument.

Well, there I was, sulking, trying to prepare myself for band camp which started the next day, tapping lightly, and quite frankly pathetically on my drum, when I heard a knock on my door.

"Mark? Mark, honey?" I heard my mom call through, immediately stopping the tapping. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure mom," I said, turning back to my computer, switching off the music I had been tapping to as she opened the door. My mom was a quaint little person, with a kind heart-shaped face and short dark hair, with stern yet caring brown eyes. I gave her a small smile as she walked in, but she just scowled.

"Mark, really, we're barely moved in and your room already looks like a bomb site!" She exclaimed, kicking over a magazine I had left on the floor.

_'We've been here for at least two weeks...'_ I thought to myself, rolling my eyes, before stopping, not wanting to suffer my mom's wrath. "What's up? I figure you could come up to comment on my messy room any day, so there must be news," I said wryly, while she crossed her arms, arching a brow.

"We were invited to have dinner at our neighbor's house tonight, so we're leaving in ten minutes," She said, shooting a glare at my drum. She always did that whenever it was in a room. It almost made me laugh.

"I'd rather not go out tonight, I have band camp tomorrow..." I said, actually with a bit of pain in my voice.

"That shouldn't matter. And besides, I heard they have a daughter who's also in band. You'll have something to talk about." It was then that I saw it; that look in my mother's eye when she gave the "they have a daughter your age" line, when she thought that there was someone I could get together with.

"Mom, in no way am I looking for a girlfriend..." I muttered, glaring down at my drum.

"I didn't say anything about finding a girlfriend. I don't know, maybe at least meeting her..." My mom said, a small smile playing on her lips, but I wasn't in the modd.

"Mom, I'm not going, alright!" I snapped.

"Don't take that tone with me, young man!" She snapped back, making me wince a little. I hated it when she said that, it was just so steryotypical parent. "Now, you're going with us tonight, whether you want to or not!"

"I thought this country was a democracy..." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Well, not in this house," She said wryly. "It's a dictatorship, and I'm the one in charge."

"You got that right..." I muttered, rolling my eyes. "This is a dictatorship..."

"Oh, ha ha, deal with it. Downstairs. Ten minutes." She then turned around, walking out of the room, leaving me alone to steam...at least, for ten more minutes.

You know, thinking about it, and thinking about how that day was going anyways, it shouldn't have surprised me which neighbor it was that we were invited to.

"Wonderful..." I muttered, standing behind my parents, my brother having already went back to college-thank the lord. I looked up at the house for the second time that week, while we waited for someone to answer the door. When it finally did open, Anali's brother, Sam, was standing there, and I was struck by how different he was from her. While she wasn't stick-thin, she wasn't exactly overweight either, and to be nice about it, her brother definitely was...well, _chubby._ He had a mop of sun-lightened blondish brown hair, though his brown eyes were similar to hers, though less defined.

"Oh, hey..." He said, just as Anali's mom came over, and I was once again struck. She looked like a super model, she was so pretty. She had sweeping auburn hair and stunning blue eyes, and a pretty good figure for a mother, and if I didn't know any better, I wouldn't think she were any older than her late twenties. It was almost a bit creepy how beautiful she was.

"Hey! Nice to see you," She said, and the parents got to work with all the chit chat and what not. I kind of just stood there while they did, when I heard the soft pitter-patter of something running closer, when I was almost knocked down by their two dogs-Nikki and Daphne, I think.

"Woah!" I yelled out as I caught the paws of Daphne, the bigger one, the smaller one, Nikki, scuttering around my feet. I chuckled a little as I rubbed Daphne's head, patting Nikki when she would stay still long enough to let me.

"Hey, you two, back off!" I looked up as I heard the familiar voice, seeing Anali at the top of the stairs. Her hair was in a low ponytail, away from her face, while she was dressed in dirty capris and a plain t-shirt, no socks or shoes. She looked down to me, then half smiled, shrugging a little. "Didn't think I'd see you until tomorrow. How're you doing?"

"Ok, I guess...considering..." I said, while she walked down the stairs, pulling Daphne off of me.

"I guess that's the best I could ask for," She said good naturedly, before turning to her mom. "Hey, can we order the food now, I'm getting hungry!" She looked at the rest of my family, tilting her head a little. "Chinese is good for all you, right?"

"Yes, that's fine," My mom said, nodding as she went back to talking to Anali's mom.

"Ok, I'm going back upstairs then. Mom, you know what I like, and if not, then Sam knows." Anali then nodded the rest of us, then dashed up the stairs, turning into one of the rooms up there.

After that, our parents ordered the food, and I played video games with Sam. After a while, I stopped playing and opted to watching him, and about half and hour later my dad went to get to food, bringing it back a short while later.

"Mark, why don't you go upstairs and get Anali?" My mom said, as I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever..." I said, pushing myself up from the couch, going up the stairs, turning into the room where Anali had disappeared into.

The room she had actually gone into was her mom's room, which actually consisted of three rooms, a computer room, a bathroom, and an actual bedroom, where Anali was watching TV, with Daphne sleeping on the bed next to her.

"Hey, the food's here," I said, making her jump a little bit.

"Oh...ok..." She said, sitting up and stretching her arms up, trying to scoot around Daphne to get off the bed, while I looked to the TV.

"What were you watching?" I asked with vague interest.

"House of Wax on On Demand," She said, pressing the stop button and dropping the remote on the bed. "Didn't get too far in it though."

"Oh..." I paused for a minute, before asking, "After dinner, can I watch too?"

She looked over at me, then shrugged, half smiling a little. "Sure."

And that was just what we did. Now that I think back on it, it wasn't a bad way to spend the night before band camp. It took my mind off of what exactly was going to happen the next day.

Well, that's chapter four. I hope you like it, so R&R!


	5. Day One

**Note:** Love you all, for your responses. Just liked to say that. I think that covers it.

**Another Note:** If I screw anything up on the topic of instruments, please don't blame me; The last time I played an instrument, I was in elementary school (it was the flute, if you were curious, and the violin before that; neither lasted for more than a year). I just swing that flags. So I'm going to focus on that.

Chapter Five: Day One A.K.A. The Nightmare

You know that dream? The one that everyone has at least once. The one where you go to school fully clothed, walk into class, and suddenly, BAM! You're naked. And everyone stares. And laughs. And you just can't move. You just stand there-_naked_-and let everyone laugh at you until you wake up.

That was what the first day of band camp was like. Except, there was was only a little laughing. Usually behind my back.

I got to the Middle School on time, about ten minutes early, and parked. I then sat in my car, steaming, for about five more minutes, debating turning around and just speeding back home, playing sick. But, after being in the same marching band for the last two years from my old school, it set me with a deep dense of pride, so eventually, I got out of the car, grabbing a bag that held a bottle of cold water and my lunch, and walked up to the building. I pushed open the door...

And was met by sudden silence.

Most of the band was there, and looked like they had all been talking, but had now stopped, glancing over at me, standing in the doorway, while I felt myself burn up like a stack of hay. It was only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

"Hey, something up? You've gone tin man in the rain." I swear to the lord, that was the first time in the last few days that I was glad to here that voice. The moment Anali had walked in behind me, everyone else seemed to stop staring, going back to their own conversations. I could have kissed her...well, hugged her at least. I think kissing is a bit over the edge.

"Oh, hey..." I said, letting out a breath as I walked in after her. She tossed her denim purse on the ground a bit ungracefully, a few pieces of trash fluttering out, which she shoved back in. "Pretty glad to see you," I admitted, which got a grin out of her.

"I guess I'm your only ally here, huh?" She said, chuckling a little.

"You could say that..." I mumbled, when Anali went over to greet three other girls, who were talking amongst themselves. One girl was a little chubby, but in a way that was extremely cute, with brown hair tied in a ponytail, and a sweet smile, who greeted Anali immediately. The second was a bit taller than Anali, with tied back blonde hair, wearing shorts and a volunteer's t-shirt, who was talking to the first girl. The last girl seemed to fit with the rest of the girls, with a naturally joking face, wearing a pair of black shorts with purple stains on them, and a band t-shirt, joking with the others. Immediately, I guessed that they were also members of the color guard.

"So, that's him?" The girl in the band t-shirt suddenly said, making me jump.

"Yup. Hey Mark, get over here," Anali called, waving me over. I walked over, feeling that naked-dream feeling again as all three of them stared at me, while I moved next to Anali like a lost puppy that just got found in a crowd. Yeah, you can laugh at me, but I did. "Ok, so this is Ally, Kate, and Jessie," Anali said, going in order around the circle, from the cute chubby girl, to the blonde, to the band-t girl.

"Oh, hey!" Said Ally, smiling broadly.

"Hi," Kate said, raising a hand in greeting.

"What's up?" Jessie said, nodding simply. "So, I'm guessing that you've done this before?"

"Done what?" I asked, afraid of what was coming.

"Color guard, duh. I mean, a guy isn't suddenly just gonna come in and sign up for a mostly girl thing unless he's done it before."

Shit. I still hadn't figured out my answer for this. I just kind of stood there, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks, while I gaped for an answer like a fish flopping around on land. "Uh...uhm, well, I...uhm..."

"I don't think it matters," Anali suddenly cut in, and I got the hugging impulse again. I would need to thank her later for saving my ass all these times during the day.

"Just curious..." Jessie said, when suddenly, the band director walked to the front of the room, gathering everyone's attention.

"Alright, everyone, welcome to the first day of Band Camp." There were a few cheers in response to this, which were quickly silenced. Mr. Trenson then went on to describe what was going to happen during band camp, how things were run, who was in charge of what, times for meals, and what not. He then announced that we were going into sectionals, and I almost walked off with the drumline to one of the rooms, before Anali grabbing my arm and pulled me towards the gym.

"Thanks..." I said, rubbing the back of my neck while Anali just rolled her eyes.

"Don't thank me, just remember next time," She said, shoving a flag into my hand suddenly and walking into the gym.

--- --- --- --- ---

I never thought what the Guard had to do was really that hard. Spin a flag around, throw it up a few times, avoid the band members doing the real work-well, what _I_ had considered the real work. But jeez...was I ever wrong.

I thought it would be ok. The only Guard member I didn't really like was a heavier girl named Genie with a bad attitude, constantly complaining about what had to be done, on her cell the rest of the time. The rest of the girls were pretty cool. There was Diane, a taller blonde girl who seemed a bit absent-minded, but pretty together, then Lina, a calm, collected girl, who, like Diane and Genie, was a senior, though seemed pretty together for her age. There were two other members I hadn't met, Natalie and Hailey. Natalie was another senior, though she was a bit short, with long dark hair and delicate face, while Hailey was a junior, with dirty blonde hair and a smart air around here.

And then there was the coach, Frankie. She was pretty cool, compared to what I was expecting, and the girls who had been there last year-Diane, Lina, Genie, Natalie, and Anali-all spoke familiarly with her, and she did the same with them.

And then came the actual work.

While going step by step made it easier, I had no idea how to maneuver the six foot..._thing._ I believe I hit myself in every inch of my body, and dropped it even more than the other girls, when _they _weren't even dropping it; and they were dropping it plenty. If I hadn't felt like a moron before, then I did now.

"Mark, what's going on? Seriously, relax, you're too stiff," Frankie said, shaking her head a little, before going to help another girl. I let out a sigh, going back to the ridiculous firt pose-left foot pointing out, left hand doing the same, flag up-lowering the flag as Frankie had showed, spinning it up and turning it, tilting my hand awkwardly, suposing to spin it over that hand, which I actually pulled off this time, but when I turned around, my flag came into contact with another's-Natalie's.

"Oh, sorry..."

"It's fine, just watch out next time," She said, continuing going over the routine as if it were nothing.

After a while, Frankie had leave for her other job, and we went outside to mark drill spots, which was a relief to me; finally, something that wasn't that dangerous. If only the weather was better.

It wasn't hot out, even though it was late August, and there were clouds rolling in, but it was heavy and humid, and I was sweating after only a few minutes outside. It was only after drill number eight that I saw that I wasn't the only one being affected by the weather.

Anali's eyes were blocked by square framed sunglasses, her face shadowed slightly by a camo hat, but she looked strained and tired after only this short amount of time. She looked like this up until lunch time, which lasted forty-five minutes, but during that, she spent around fifteen minutes eating, then more or less passed out, falling asleep on her purse for the remaining half an hour, her eyes fluttering open every few minutes to check the time, then falling asleep again.

We went back out to do more drill, and she just got worse. It really didn't surprise me when the other band director, Mrs. Bentress, suggested she got home early. I didn't blame her either.

It did surprise me when I saw her back after the dinner break, freshly showered and rested, talking with one of the clarinet players, a small girl with fluffy brown hair and a thin face.

"Hey," I said, walking up to her as the clarinet player walked off to talk to someone else, Anali turning to face me. She still looked tired, but better than before.

"Oh, hey."

"How're you feeling?"

She shrugged, giving a small smile. "Better. I slept, ate, felt better. No biggie."

"You should drink more. You probably got dehydrated," I said, unusually concerned. Probably because she'd been looking out for me all day, I wanted to make sure she was ok now.

"It's fine. _I'm_ fine. Don't worry so much. Worry more about how you're doing," She said, a wry smile on her face. "I saw you spazzing with the flag. You should bring one home tonight, practice."

I chuckled a little, rubbing the back of my head. "I can't help it; It's-"

"Harder than it looks?" Suddenly, the look on her face was the best thing I'd seen all day. Her smile was genuine, bordering on a slight smirk, as she pushed a wet strand of hair from her eyes. I felt like I should blush or something, then suddenly wondered why I was becoming a girl just by looking at her. She then shrugged, patting me on the arm. "Told you so."

She then walked away, making me wonder what the hell was going on, and why suddenly I felt like this, and it hit me:

God damnit, I was starting to like her.

And I thought that morning things weren't going to get worse. Boy was I wrong.

Ok, chapter five! It is there! Reply to it! R&R!


	6. The Routine

**Note:** Just to warn you, this is the part in the story where there will be long pauses between updates while i try to think up where the plot should be heading. Also, my mom has been taking away my modem, so I haven't been able to get onto my own computer. Please just be patient with me. Thanks.

Chapter Six: The Routine A.K.A. Clang Clatter Ow

Practice makes perfect. Or, at least practice makes for improvement. The saying is true, in a basic sense. But I guess it's more true for some things than others.

For example, it's true in the sense that the more I practice with the Death Stick (a.k.a. The flag), the less times I'm coming close to an early death. Still coming close, but not as often. And, if it could even be possible, I think I may be getting the hang of it.

And then, there are times when practice is like dull summer reading: Useless. Like, trying to practice acting cool and collected when walking into a room full of people who think you're a fag. Really, it doesn't work, and you still freeze up every time you walk into said room full of people. Call me paranoid, but I swear most of them are still probably laughing about me when I'm not looking.

God, I'm like one of those people who think that the government is tracking them.

"And we're back to tin man."

Another thing that practice is _not_ going to perfect: reacting casually to the girl you just realized you have a crush on, who the day before was just a friend. If I have not mentioned this before, I am not in any way a lady's man, or whatever you want to call it. In fact, I have a bit of problem dealing with girls in that way. I had one girlfriend at my old school, and...well, let's just say it didn't end so good. More or less it ended with her freaking out and throwing a base drum out the window. At least one thing I was glad to leave at my old school.

"Oh, ah, Anali...uhm...ah..." As I was reduced to a stuttering idiot, she looked at me curiously, an eyebrow arched, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Syllables are fine, but a few coherent words would be a bit nicer," She said, half smiling a little. She then chuckled, walking past me and throwing her things onto the ground against a wall. "So, did you practice last night?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah..."

"Did it help?"

I shrugged, leaning against the wall. "I guess so..."

"Got a fresh set of bruises, huh?" She said, grinning a little as she looked up.

I chuckled a little, rubbing the back of my head. "Yeah. Still not really used to it."

Anali shrugged, standing up. "It gets better after a while. Practice enough and it should come more easily." She looked over, then smiled, pushing a stray hair away from her eyes. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it."

Normally, I would have probably said that that wasn't true and that I should probably just quit while I was ahead; Instead, I nodded, grinning dumbly, and said, "Alright."

This was one of those moments when I reflected back to when I would tease my friend Damien about him and his girlfriend. With us, Damien never backed down to anyone, even yelled at a teacher once. But around his girlfriend, Melissa, he was reduced to a simpering little puppy who agreed to everything she said. Back then, I couldn't see how a girl could change someone like that.

I still don't understand, which sucks because the same thing was happening to me. Girls must be toxic or something; That's the only explaination I can come up with.

--- --- --- --- ---

Before long, I discovered that while I could barely hold a flag without dropping it, I wasn't the only person on the guard who was a complete and total spaz.

"Eep!"

"Ow!"

"Watch out!"

"Almost got it."

_Clang._

_Clatter._

The resounding sounds of the flag hitting the ground while trying to accomplish a double toss.

"Damn!" I muttered as I jumped out of the way while my flag clattered to the ground, narrowly missing my hand. "Jesus, how do you do this?"

"Don't be afraid of the flag, just catch it!" Frankie called out, watching everyone a good distance back.

"Wait, so how many turns make a double?" Kate asked, awkwardly catching a toss that had made about a half spin.

"Two and a half," Answered Natalie, who seemed to be having a better time with it than the rest of us, actually making it close to completing a whole double.

"Y'see, that makes absolutely no sense; Two and half spins equals a double? What kind of logic is that?" Jessie asked, pulling her hand back as her flag grazed the edge of it.

"Color guard logic," Ally sstated, grinning a little.

"Flags have their own science. They could teach a class on it: Flag Physics 101," Anali joked, grimacing as she prepared to throw her flag in the air, only to keep her grip on it, twisting her wrist a little. "Ow..."

"Anali, just let go," Frankie said, patting Anali on the shoulder as she passed, then looked over at me. "Mark!"

Bad idea. As she said my name, I had thrown my flag up, then turned to look to her. A moment later, the flag came crashing down...straight onto my head.

"OW!" I yelled, grabbing my head as stars burst in front of my eyes and the pain blinded me for a minute.

"You ok!" Frankie called, walking over quickly, as most of the guard also looked over.

"Ow...yeah, just...give me a minute..." I ground out, still holding my head, waiting for the pain to subside.

"Took a pretty hard blow there...just give it a minute, alright, it'll wear off..." Frankie said, patting me on the shoulder as I gave a small nod, then walked over to another girl who was having trouble.

"Ouch, that looked pretty bad...sure you're ok?" I looked up as Anali walked over, concern on her face. I gave a small strained grin, then nodded, pulling my hands away, the pain in my head subsiding to a dull throb.

"Yeah, I'm good," I said, picking up my flag, which was lying on the ground.

Anali gave me a worried looked, then shrugged, smiling a little. "Alright...guess all to do when you fall down is to get back up again."

I nodded, smiling back at her. "Guess so." I paused for a minute, watching as Anali attempted another double, the flag just brushing her fingers before hitting the ground. I took a deep breath, gathering up my courage clenching my hand before finally speaking. "Hey, Anali?"

"Yeah?" She asked, looking over as she picked her flag up. I felt heat rush up my neck, but willed it away, taking a deep breath as I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Uhm...are you doing anything this weekend?"

I know the chapter wasn't very good, the inspiration flow in my brain has slowed to a trickle. On top of that, this weekend is my brother's Bar Mitzvah, and I'm also battling a cold. I promise a better chapter next time, swear it!


	7. Getting Better, Getting Worse

**Note:** Yes, I'm still alive. Sorry for the long delay, but I'm back. And, my cold is gone! Huzzah! Hopefully this chapter will be better than the last, I wanted to update before Homecoming tonight, because knowing me and the company I hold, there will be plenty of drama that would have probably delayed the story for another two weeks. But, here I go, hopefully drawing out a plot. Hope you enjoy!

**Another Note:** Just so you know, the first part of the story coming to a close. After this chapter, I will probably have one more, and that will be is for Part One! After this, look out for Part Two, which will probably come close behind. I'll give more details and even maybe a little preview (to help give me an idea of what I'm doing) in the last chapter. Ok, now to the story and enough of the blabbering.

Chapter Seven: Getting Better, Getting Worse A.K.A. The Meaning of Silence

Rejection sucks.

I mean, majorly sucks. I mean, like practically nothing else can compare to it, it sucks that bad. Mostly because you put up all that courage, layed out your feelings like a set of cards in poker, and then your bet lost. Big time. But there is something worse than being rejected:

Not knowing if you were rejected. Being met by silence is just as bad.

Truthfully, I didn't think Anali was the kind of girl who would drag something out like that. If anything, I at least expected a blunt answer. A "What the hell? Why would you ask me out!" probably would have been better than the blank, shocked expression she gave me. She just stood there, holding her flag, frozen, then bit her lip, looking like she was trying to figure out how exactly to answer a question that was extremely painful.

"Ok, guys, let's head back inside!" Frankie called out, and you could almost taste the relief flooding from Anali, who promptly turned away, rushing back to the school. I couldn't decide what hurt more: Being hit on the head with the flag or seeing the relief on Anali's face at not having to answer my question.

Damn.

"Shot down," Genie said cruelly, cackling as she passed by. "And by that geek, no less!"

"Oh, shut up!" I muttered darkly, though, in the back of my mind, I knew sadly that she was right.

--- --- --- --- ---

Anali avoided me for the rest of the day. Every time we would get even close to being near to one another, she would find someone or something on the other side of the room that needed her attention. It may have seemed a little childish on her part, but she did look pretty freaked. Which, y'know, didn't really help my self esteem, anyways.

The rest of the day went by sluggishly, and finally, we were all leaving, Anali running to meet her mom, practically diving in through the window of the car, keeping her eyes down as I passed the car on the way to my own. Stab to the pride.

It didn't help that my brother had decided to stop by again, and that he could see the pain clear on my face, letting out a long whistle.

"Damn, who turned _you_ down? Looks like a real heartbreaker." I glared at him, and he pretended to look taken aback, sucking in a breath. "Ouch, that bad?"

"She didn't even reject me..." I mumbled, trudging to the fridge and grabbing a lemon, which I though was an orange, for some reason, but didn't particularly care about at this point. I cut it in fourths and ate it anyways, relishing the sour taste in my mouth. Almost as bad as the look on Anali's face. "She just...avoided me."

Leo nodded wisely, watching me oddly as I ate my lemon. "Yeah, that does suck..."

"Did a girl ever do that to you?" I asked, hoping for once he could be a good big brother and give me advice.

"Are you kidding? Unlike you, I'm not a total dork and I have _never_ had a girl avoid me when I asked her out."

"Thanks, that makes me feel so much better..." I muttered, biting into a fourth, squinting slightly as the tangy, sour juice spread into my mouth. Leo watched me thoughtful for a moment, then sighed.

"It's that Annie chick, isn't it?"

"Anali," I corrected, then cursed myself for it.

"Knew it. Only a girl _that_ weird would get you this pissy," He said, chuckling a little.

"She's not..._that_...weird..." I mumbled, and Leo just chuckled again, but his expression changed to a strangely wise, thoughtful one.

"You want to know what I think?"

"Not particularly..."

"I don't think she was rejecting you."

I looked up at him, arching a brow. "How do you figure?"

He shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "I think she's just scared. No offense to her or anything, but she looks like someone who doesn't get asked out very often, if at all. Maybe you...I don't know..._surprised_ her. Maybe she was surprised that you thought of her in that way."

"You make it sound like she's never had someone like her before..." I mumbled, staring down at my lemon. It was becoming more appealing every moment I stared at it. Good lemon. Nice lemon.

Leo then shrugged, looking out the window. "Maybe she hasn't."

Silence. I stared at my sweet little lemon some more, as an unexpected quiet spread over us. I growled, then threw my lemon at the sink, standing up sharply. "Damn..." I said, running up the stairs to my room, slamming the door as I walked in.

--- --- --- --- ---

I spent the better of three hours in my room, banging away at my drum as though creating loud noises would make any of this better. It wasn't until about eight thirty at night I noticed the light on at the house across the street. Anali's house.

Her window.

I stopped the banging for a moment as I stared at the window from my room, almost falling out of my chair as I saw her walk into her room, tossing something onto her bed. A book, from the looks of it. She sat down on a chair next to her window, probably at a computer or something. She looked calm, peaceful almost, not how I usually see her, and I smiled a little. Then I turned away, staring down at my drum in embarrassment. Great; Now I felt like a sleazy stalker or something.

I sighed, running my hands through my hair. "Damn, this is messed up..." I mumbled, resting my forehead on my drum. I wasn't used to this. Not in any way. I wasn't used to rejection, since I didn't usually put myself in a position when I could be. I wasn't used to liking a girl like this, because the only girls I had ever been really associated with had been the ones in the drumline, nothing else. And I wasn't used to obsessing over _anything_ other than drumline and marching band this much.

Man, did I feel like a pathetic loser.

I sighed, glancing back out the window, when it happened: She looked out at the same time. It was like time froze for the single moment, while we both just stared out of our windows. I thought about waving, smiling, doing something, but just stayed frozen.

And then she broke it by jumping up and letting the curtains in front of her window drop down, covering the window.

Now that's just a major stab to a man's pride.

A little piece of pain I felt should be shared through my drum with the whole household. Which then apparently my mom thought was a good reason to take my drum away for a month, and hide it in the attic. She has a habit of hiding things she takes away from us in the attic, then making sure she is the only person in the house with the key to the attic. One of mom's little quirks.

"You should be glad I took it away, anyways, you were hitting it hard enough to put a hole in it," My mom said after she had hidden the drum, coming back to now give me a lecture. "What's put you in such a bad mood? This isn't like you."

I muttered something about not wanting to talk about it, and she scowled, making me wince. She had that kind of effect.

"He got rejected." I glared as Leo stood outside my door, smirking in at me.

"Is that it?" My mom suddenly stopped looking angry, and almost looked happy, her eyes twinkling a little. "Oh, sweetie! Oh, this must be quite a girl. She rejected you, though? Oh, honey, that's too bad, but if she can't see what a great person you are, then-"

"Mom, please!" I groaned as she hugged me, Leo laughing. "And she didn't reject me!"

"She didn't? Well, then why are you so upset? If she didn't reject you-"

"She didn't say yes, either...She just...didn't say anything..." I mumbled out.

There was silence. My mom watched me thoughtfully, and Leo stood outside, waiting to here her response. "I...see..." She said carefully, then sighed, sitting down on my bed, chuckling a little. "So that's what this is about. I can see why you would be stressed about it."

I let out a breath, and shrugged, not trusting myself to answer. She nodded again, then smiled a little.

"You know, when I was in high school, I asked out a guy I really liked." Oh jeez, one of mom's 'back when I was your age' stories. I wanted to stop it before she had time to finish, but my mouth didn't seem to want to oblige, and she continued. "And when I did, he didn't say yes, he didn't say no, just walked away and didn't answer. He avoided me for a week, taking different routes to classes so we wouldn't have to bump into each other, avoided looking at me at all times, even ate in empty classrooms so we wouldn't see each other in the cafeteria."

I shrugged, looking at a wall. "Yeah? So, what happened?"

She chuckled a little. "Eventually, I realized how ridiculous this was getting, and one day, I finally approached him, and asked him why he was avoiding me, why he wouldn't answer my question. You want to know what happened?"

I rolled my eyes. "No idea. What happened?"

"He told me that he was scared of answering." I glanced up at that. It just seemed too simple, and made little sense.

"Scared? What was he so scared of?" I asked, looking over at her.

She shrugged. "Don't know. Of what other people might think, of committing to a relationship. Truthfully, it doesn't matter. All that matters is, after that, he stopped avoiding me, and we even dated for a while. If I hadn't been the bigger person and just confronted him, he would have kept avoiding me, and I would have kept wondering what was wrong with me. But, I didn't, and things worked out. So, maybe all you have to do is just go up and ask her again. This time, just make her answer. It'll work out." She then smiled, standing up, patting my shoulder. "Don't worry. You'll be ok. You're a good boy. It'll work out."

She then walked out, leaving me alone in my room. "You know, she's kind of right," Leo said, then walked away as well, leaving me completely alone.

It was weird. I usually don't take notice what my mom tells me; Most kids don't, it's nothing new. But what she said-do I dare say it?-kind of made sense. I mean, if I kept sulking, and Anali kept avoiding me, nothing would ever change. It might even escalate, and we might start hating each other, and that just seemed plain dumb. And the more I thought about it, the more approaching her made sense. And the more sense it made, the more convinction I had to actually do it. And I knew exactly when to do it.

Band camp ended tomorrow. We got out early after doing a run through for all the parents who came to see us, and then started going through a normal schedule until school started.

Tomorrow, after the run through, I wasn't going to let Anali leave until she had answered my question. And if she didn't answer tomorrow, I wouldn't rest until she did.

That's chapter seven! Hopefully it was better than the previous chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, for Part One is coming to an end soon! Now please, R&R!


	8. The Last Day

**Note:** Thanks everyone, for hanging in so long. You're the inspiration that keeps me going, and thanks to all of you, I am able to finish Part One of this story. Just so you know, this is a big accomplishment for me; My stories usually come to a standstill after a few chapters, even if I'm doing stories in parts. I thanks you all for enjoying the first part of this story, and hope you'll stick around for the next stretch of the story, Tossing Up: Letting Go, though I can't give a definite date when I'll put it out. But, enough of my ramblins! Let's finish this thing!

Chapter Eight: The Last Day A.K.A. Never Give Up, Never Give In

"You're insane."

"I'm determined."

"You're acting like you're going to war. And we all know how wars started over a girl turn out."

I glared at Leo as I grabbed my t-shirt, pulling it on while he watched me from the doorway of my room. "Just beat it; I'm not going to war over her, there's no one to go to war against anyways." I glanced out my window, across to her window, which still had the blinds drawn. I let out a breath, then grabbed the "item". My way of throwing down the gauntlet, or whatever the saying is. I looked at it for a moment, then shoved it into the deep pocket of my shorts, as Leo groaned.

"Listen, I know you're dead set on getting her to answer your question and all, and I respect that, but do you have to be so gung ho about it?"

I ignored him as I pulled my sneakers on, ignoring the "item" as it dug into my side. "This is going to work..." I muttered as I walked past him into the hall. He watched me for a moment as I started down the stairs when I heard him chuckle softly.

"Good luck," He called out, just as I walked out the door.

--- --- --- --- ---

"What's with that look?"

I looked up as Jessie walked over to the flag closet as I grabbed my last flag, collecting her own flags as well.

"What look? I don't have a look," I muttered, trying to balance all my flags and walk away dignified at the same time; Truthfully, _not_ an easy task.

"You look extremely...hardcore would be an appropriate word," She said, nodding her head a little as she balanced her flags, walking up behind me. I gave a shrug, and she chuckled. "This is about Anali's silent treatment, huh?"

"Does everyone know about that!" I muttered, trying to regain a flag balance as I tried to navagate past a group of flutes to get out the door.

"Pretty much. Stuff like that flies faster than a virus around here," She said, shrugging a little.

I paused for a moment at the top of the stairs outside the school. Anali had just stumbled out of her mom's car, running up the stairs and past me with her head down, running into the building like being outside near me was toxic. I stood there for a moment, as Jessie stood behind me, watching. I then sucked in a breath, bracing myself again. "I'm going to make her answer. Today."

"Well, good luck with that," Jessie said, walking past me down the stairs, towards the parking lot. She gave me an encouraging nod as she passed, half smiling, and I felt better, if only a little. This was going to work. It was simple, and it didn't sound too impressive, but it was going to work. I was going to make it work.

"Alright..." I said to myself, getting a better grip on my flags as I started down the stairs. But just as fate would happen, the moment my spirit was up, something had to bring my physical self crashing to the ground. Literately.

"Shoot!" I heard the sharp, strained word behind, but before I could even turn around, something long and hard smacked me over the head, making me lose my balance, and inevitably, crash to the ground.

Now normally, falling hurts, without a question. But when you fall on about five different flags on a set of stairs, it presents a very special, _unique_ pain, equal to falling head first into a rocky cliff. Not a good sensation after the initial shock wears off.

"Oh my god!" That was the last thing I heard before the searing pain came speeding in and about a dozen voices all speaking at once blurred into a single mind-blasting buzz. Man, and I thought my first hangover was bad...

I felt myself being lifted up and sat down, and vaguely made out the sound of someone asking me if I thought anything was broken, if anything hurt-duh-and behind that, someone scolded a voice that was nervously apologizing over and over again. After sitting for a moment, I was helped up again, and led inside, onto a chair, and was promptly handed an icepack to hold to my head. Mmm, Nirvanna into a bag of cold goo...

"How are you doing?" I was finally able to interpret this voice as Frankie, and nodded, with much difficulty I must say. "That was some fall. You sure you aren't seriously hurt?"

I nodded again, then forced out a few words. "Yeah...so what hit me?"

"That would be a flag."

"Who was carrying it? They got a grudge against my head or something?" She paused, and I pried my eyes open, after keeping them squeezed shut this whole time. She gave me a wry expression, and I chuckled, which made the pain worse. "Oh..."

"An's a klutz, she didn't mean it," Frankie said, shrugging a little. I sighed, and she raised an eyebrow. "And she doesn't seem to be the type of girl who would try and take you down for asking her out. Just doesn't seem her thing."

"And it's official; Everyone knows..." I muttered, making Frankie chuckle.

"Y'know, what you're going through...it's kind of like tossing a flag."

I looked up, still clutching the ice pack to my head. "Eh?"

She half smiled, nodding a little bit. "Yup. You see, the hardest thing to do is just to let go. After that, it doesn't matter if you drop it or catch it; You've already gotten over the fear of what will happen if you let go. And if you drop it, it takes just as much effort to pick it up and try again." She stood up, pushing away her chair. "You've already gotten the courage to let go once, and you didn't catch it. It's just time to pick it back up and try again." She patted me on the shoulder, and smiled again. "Come out when you feel up to it."

And then she was gone, out the door to help the rest of the band, leaving me sitting there with a headache that was growing worse. A minute or two later, I heard the band start playing, starting in the middle of the second part of the show. I let out a breath, letting my head fall forward, when I heard the door open again, someone walking in. My first thought was that it was probably one of the band directors, coming in to make sure I didn't need to be carted to the emergency room or something, but when I looked up, it wasn't one of the band directors. Hell, it wasn't even Frankie. It was...

"Anali..." I said, sitting up a little more, while Anali closed the door as quietly as she could. She looked embarrassed and anxious, looking towards the floor as she stood in front of the double doors, wiping her hands on the sides of her shorts.

"Yeah...Frankie sent me in. Make sure you don't pass out or something, and to beg forgiveness, I guess." She rubbed her arm, still looking away, before glancing up quickly. "I'm really sorry. I just lost my balance with the flags, and I tried to hold onto them, but they just...slipped. I didn't mean to hit you...or knock you down the stairs...or..."

"Hey, it's no problem," I said, holding up a hand and forcing out a small chuckle, though it still bothered me how she wouldn't even look in my general area.

"I'm serious. I wouldn't _ever_ try to that to anyone. I didn't mean to..." She said, bititng her bottom lip a little.

"...To avoid me?" Shit. For a moment, I hoped that I had just been imagining that, and I hadn't really said the first thing that popped into my head, but then I saw her freeze up a little, her ears and cheeks slowly turning red, still looking down. Damn. I was hoping that this confrontation would happen under better circumstances...ok, better in the sense that I didn't have potential brain damage, which had been brought on by the one I was confronting. But, my mouth had already opened, so I guess I should just get it over with. "Seriously, why don't you just answer?"

Anali bit her lip harder, looking like she was trying to think of an answer that would explain everything, but it was just out of her reach. "Uhm...well..."

"If you don't want to go out with me, that's fine. I could care less." Ouch. Bad lie. But at least she was looking at me now; it was with a look of incredulous surprise and almost angered disappointment blatant on her face, but at least she wasn't staring at the floor. "Just...stop avoiding me and tell me to my face."

"That's not it!" She exclaimed, her expression starting to become defensive.

"Then tell me what it is!"

She stared at me harshly for a moment, then turned around, opening the door. "You seem fine. Set up your flags and get back in." She gave me a final glare, then pulled the door shut, the bang from it closing echoing in the room, making my head throb.

"Damnit!" I yelled, throwing the icepack to the ground ina fit of blind rage. I realized that was stupid even before it exploded all over the floor. I also realised that it represented this whole problem: A big mess splattered all over the place that I caused, and that I now had to clean up and make right.

--- --- --- --- ---

"Idiot."

I let out a sigh as I walked with Jessie back to the beginning of the set, rubbing the back of my neck with the hand that wasn't carrying my flag. My headache had subsided, I had cleaned up as much blue goo as I could, and trudged outside, joining back in with the rest of the band after spending an inordinate amount of time convincing the band director that I was really alright. Then, of course, it was always fun trying to concentrate without noticing the cold shoulder directed my way equal to that of a Canadian winter. Man, when that girl gets pissed, she really lets it show...

"She started it by not answering in the first place..." I muttered, glaring down at the ground.

"Jeez, that's mature: 'She started it!' It's like you were caught fighting over a toy in the sandbox." She laughed a little while I narrowed my eyes at her. I knew she was right, and this was all stupid and immature, but it's not like I'm going to admit it.

"I just don't see what her problem is! I mean, I've already done my part; why won't she just give me a goddamn answer!"

"Jenisen! I heard that! Pay up or take your lap!" Mr. Trenson yelled from the platform where he stood with the band majors, two blond girls going over hand motions together. I grumbled to myself, walking off the field and dropping my flag as I cursed myself for not bringing money, starting my lap. Apparently, cursing wasn't tolerated here--Frankie didn't seem to care either way, and cursed enough when it was just the guard--so they developed a system where, depending on the curse, you had to either pay them or take a certain amount of laps, the amount for either determined by the severity of the curse. Load of bullshit if you ask me, but the field was big and I didn't want to do more laps than I had to, so I kept it to myself.

The rest of the morning progressed as usual, save the inardinate about of sulking and steaming by me and Anali, who to everyone else probably looked like we were trying to see who could direct more anger while still avoiding the other more. Not than anyone else was paying attention. Everyone else was still trying to get ready for the parent's show at five, where we would show the parents all that we had accomplished in this god-forsaken week. Oh well, at least we got out early.

I continued to sulk all the way up to lunch, where I even left the band room's blessed air conditioning and sat outside to avoid Anali, who was just sitting against a wall listening to her i-Pod and drinking from a water bottle. As I sat outside, watching some other members run to their cars and speed away, trying to get home for a little while, I let out a breath, staring at my sandwich without eating it.

This wasn't supposed to happen. It shouldn't have gone like this, not at all. I was supposed to confront her with confidence, get an answer-hopefully, the one that I wanted, which would be "Yes, of course, I've just been too overcome by flattery to answer and too shy to confront you!"...like I said, hopeful, and of course, impossible-and gone on with life. But then, apparently, when you add the actual girl, stubborn and emotional to a fault, to the equation, it doesn't work out how it was supposed to. Shocking, isn't it?

And damned to hell if I was still head over heels.

I sighed, throwing my sandwich into a trashcan with even taking a bite, and started to walk inside, when I heard voices on the other side.

"This is stupid, An. Why can't you just talk to him?" Crap. "An" was Jessie's nickname for Anali. I froze outside the door, and just stood there, listening.

"Jess, please, just-"

"I mean, the kid put himself out there, and, _hello_, he's a good catch! Good looking, straight, nice..."

"Jeez, if he's so great, why don't _you_ date him?"

"Boyfriend, remember? And then there's the fact that he's head over heels for you." Jeez, it was scary how accurate Jessie could be...

There was a pause. "No he's not. He probably wasn't even asking for a date. Probably just wanted to go out as friends. I bet he wants me to introduce him to Lana or something." Ouch. Lana was Anali's friend, a picture-perfect tall blonde with stunning features and a penchant for the saxaphone. One of those girls who always has a boyfriend, and even when she does, still has a flurry of guys hanging around her. Someone everyone knows...and usually envies for her good looks and popularity. "Guys never like me like that, especially when I have friends like her. To them, I'm just another body taking up air space...an _annoying _body..."

I felt my stomach lurch at her tone of voice. Hopelessness. Like she'd already given up entirely, and had to constantly remind herself that she had. And it didn't seem like the company she held, beautiful girls like Lana, were helping her esteem. I started wondering how many feelings she had had to give up because the people they had gone to had been lured in by her beautiful friend. And then I suddenly got why she was pushing me away like this. She didn't want to get close to someone, and then have it ripped out from beneath her when she finally got attached. And she seemed like someone who could get attached easily, and knew so.

She was so afraid of getting hurt she would rather avoid the possibility altogether than risk it. And I had screwed any possibility of getting her to look past that fear by letting my pride take over and tell her I didn't really care if she didn't want to go.

No wonder she was pissed off at me. I had ensured to her that I was like every other guy who had ever let her down because she wasn't a supermodel wondergirl. It was my fault, in the end.

"Oh come on, An, you're adorable!"

The was a sort of snort-one of Anali's little quirks-as I heard something being dropped in a trash bin. "You forget..." Anali said softly. "In our society, adorable just doesn't cut it. I mean, with guys, why have adorable when you can have hot? It's just how it is."

"Come on, An."

I heard Anali chuckle a little, as I leaned against the door, wondering if I should just leave, when I heard her say one last thing: "Jess, seriously; In the fairy stories, do you really think the prince would notice Cinderella without her glass slippers and gown? If he had found her in her rags without ever seeing her in her pretty things, he would have passed her by and married her stepsister instead."

After that, there was silence, and I realized they must have gone further into the school, leaving the bandroom. It was also at that time that I knew what I had to do.

--- --- --- --- ---

The rest of the day went by relatively quickly. The parents came, we performed what we had for the show. And I planned.

I spent every break they gave us thinking, and eventually got it down on paper, where I showed it to Jessie.

"This...is the cheesiest thing I have ever seen..." She said, reading over a second time, before handing it back to me with a half smile. "Y'know, you could have just done a Heath Ledger and sung "I Love You Baby" over the intercom in front of everyone else...buuut, I think something like this would do the trick. Just don't screw it up."

I grinned, taking it back and shoving it in my back pocket. "Don't worry. I won't."

After the big performance, I waited in the band room, having put away my flags early, and watched as everyone else packed up and ran out to meet their rides and leave. When I finally saw Anali, she had walked in alone, and put her flags away, walking briskly past me, obviously avoiding looking at me, as she made her way to the door. Oh no, not this time...

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" She snapped at me as I grabbed her upper arm, stopping her and making her look at me as I firmly pulled her away from the door, and led her into the hallway outside of the band room, and down the hallway around a corner, far enough away that we probably wouldn't run into another member of the band, and wouldn't be interrupted. "Let go, already! I said-"

"Anali." Even _I_ was surprised by my tone of voice, how serious it was. I watched Anali's eyes widen, and then they lost some of the anger that they had held all day, and even looked exhausted and sad. I let out a breath. "I need to say something to you."

She looked up. "Yeah?"

I watched her for a moment, then sighed, running a hand through my hair. I then grabbed her wrist, pulling her forward, and wrapped my arms around her, holding her. I felt her tense up, and try to push away slightly, but I didn't budge.

"Wh...what are you..."

"I like you."

She froze again, and stopped struggling. "But..." She said in a high, soft voice, like she couldn't make out anything else.

"I. Like. You." I smiled a little to myself as I held her, relishing how if I wanted to I could just rest my chin on the top of her head easily. "Everything about you. I don't care that you're short, or stubborn, or a bit odd. Because, I also know that you're sweet, and funny, and cute...which I think is much better than being hot."

I felt her take in a sharp breath, and then lightly felt her hands clench where they were trapped between us. "But..."

"And..." I continued, holding her a little tighter. "I would always prefer you over any girl. Whether you were in a ballgown or rags, I would always prefer you." I then leaned in nearer to her, and whispered, "No matter who else is around, I only see you."

There was a moment of silence. I heard her sniff a little, and suddenly, she pushed away, breaking away. "You...are so...full of it."

Just as I was starting to think that nothing was ever going to work, and that maybe it would just be better for my health to give up, she suddenly leaned up, pushing her hands against my chest as she did, standing on her tip-toes as she kissed me. I didn't really know how to react at first, but it didn't take long before I only realized I had been truly into it when she broke away and I found that my hands had placed themselves on the sides of her neck gently. She looked up through her eyelashes, the greenish-hazel eyes that had first locked me that first meeting staring back at me, and I was suddenly swept up by that first initial feeling. It was all true; Through this whole experience, I could only see her-no matter how cheesy and Halmark gag-inducing it sounded.

"Just me?" She suddenly said, her voice small, but the voice I wanted to hear from now on.

I smiled, and lightly ran a hand over her cheek, leaning down again. "Yes...just you..."

And, after all your waiting, it has finished! YAY! Now, it will probably take a while-so, don't count on it too soon-but look out for the next part of the story, Tossing Up: Letting Go. I hope that you keep with me through it all! Thanks for reading!


End file.
